Quick read: The Tigers' resume is as strong as any No. 1 overall team in playoff history. Coach Ed Orgeron and Co. beat five teams who ranked in the AP Top 10 at the time of kickoff. Given the offensive firepower of LSU and OU, an early kickoff is the only thing from keeping this semifinal ending before midnight. The Tigers are the No. 1 offense in the NCAA, averaging 554.3 yards per game. Coach Lincoln Riley's Sooners are right behind them at 554.2 ypg.

Ohio State wide receiver K.J. Hill (14) holds the trophy following the team's 34=21 win over Wisconsin in the Big Ten championship NCAA college football game, early Sunday, Dec. 8, 2019, in Indianapolis. (AP Photo/Michael Conroy)

Quick read: Good luck to Clemson's offensive line trying to block Chase Young. The Ohio State edge rusher is one of the most-dynamic players in the sport. Despite missing a few games, he still led the NCAA FBS level in sacks with 16.5. Clemson held opponents to an NCAA-best 10.6 points per game. But the schedule surely factors in. The defending national champion Tigers only faced two teams that were ranked at kickoff.

Monday, Jan. 13

CFP National Championship: 7 p.m. at Mercedes-Benz Superdome in New Orleans (ESPN)

NON-PLAYOFF BOWLS

Oklahoma State head coach Mike Gundy argues for a cal in the third quarter during the Bedlam college football game between the Oklahoma State Cowboys (OSU) and Oklahoma Sooners (OU) at Boone Pickens Stadium in Stillwater, Okla., Saturday, Nov. 30, 2019. OU won 34-16. [Sarah Phipps/The Oklahoman]

Friday, Dec. 20

Bahamas Bowl: Charlotte vs. Buffalo, Nassau, 1 p.m (ESPN)

Quick read: You may not know or care about these teams, but it's the first bowl game of the season, so be sure tune in before Christmas break.

Frisco (Texas) Bowl: Utah State vs. Kent State, 6:30 p.m. (ESPN2)

Quick read: The perfect game to act like you care about at a holiday party.

Quick read: Oklahoma State transfer J.D. King is a big part of Georgia Southern’s offensive attack. He averages 70.6 yards a game and has scored eight touchdowns.

Boca Raton (Fla.) Bowl: SMU vs. Florida Atlantic, 2:30 p.m. (ABC)

Quick read: Florida Atlantic will be playing in its home stadium, but it will likely be without its head coach. Lane Kiffin took the head coaching job at Ole Miss, and he has not said whether he will coach FAU in the bowl.

Quick read: Out of a tragedy came one of the season's best stories in how fans rallied around Arkansas State coach Blake Anderson, who lost his wife Wendy to breast cancer right before the season started.

Las Vegas Bowl: Washington vs. Boise State, 6:30 p.m. (ABC)

Quick read: In his final game at Washington, Chris Petersen gets to coach against the team he turned into a mid-major powerhouse.

New Orleans Bowl: No. 20 Appalachian State vs. UAB, 8 p.m. (ESPN)

Quick read: The 12-1 Mountaineers are perhaps the best team in the Carolinas not named Clemson. App State beat North Carolina and South Carolina.

Monday, Dec. 23

Gasparilla Bowl: UCF vs. Marshall, Tampa, Fla., 1:30 p.m. (ESPN)

Quick read: Gasparilla is apparently a pirate term, which makes it unfortunate that Mike Leach and Washington State aren't in this bowl game. So we'll have to settle for UCF coach Josh Heupel, who played quarterback at OU when Leach was the offensive coordinator.

Tuesday, Dec. 24

Hawaii Bowl: BYU vs. Hawaii, Honolulu, 7 p.m. (ESPN)

Quick read: If you're not too busy watching the Santa tracker, check out the lone bowl game on Christmas Eve.

Quick read: Memphis, the highest-ranked Group of Five champion at No. 17, enters a major bowl game knowing that its coach (Mike Norvell) is headed off to Florida State. The 10-2 Nittany Lions heads to the Cotton Bowl for the first time since the 1970s to face its second straight upstart bowl opponent after losing to Kentucky last season in the Citrus Bowl.

Quick read: The Cardinals appear to be headed in the right direction under first-year coach Scott Satterfield after the disastrous end of the Bobby Petrino era. The Bulldogs became bowl eligible thanks to one of the craziest penalties you'll see at the end of the Egg Bowl.

Quick read: The No. 24 Cavaliers have had a great year, going 9-4 in a watered-down ACC, but it's not exactly one worthy of a New Year's Six bowl game. That's unless wins against William & Mary, Old Dominion and Liberty do something for you. Florida, on the other hand, went 10-2 with losses to top-10 opponents LSU and Georgia.

Quick read: Watch this because it the final game of Virginia Tech defensive coordinator Bud Foster's career. But be ready to hear plenty about lunch pails. Mark Stoops and Kentucky rebounded nicely after losing their top three quarterbacks, forcing receiver Lynn Bowden Jr. to play QB.

Quick read: A pair of mediocre teams playing in a beautiful backdrop. Four of Arizona State's five losses came within a touchdown margin. Freshman quarterback Jayden Daniels could be a rising star out west.

Quick read: The Ducks earned their spot in “The Granddaddy of Them All” by beating Utah in the Pac-12 title game, but the Big Ten representative was a bit more up in the air. With the champion Ohio State going to the playoff, there were questions whether Wisconsin or Minnesota would get the spot. The Badgers, who played the Buckeyes tough in the Big Ten title game, got the nod. Both Oregon and Wisconsin have offensive stars in Duck quarterback Justin Herbert and Badger running back Jonathan Taylor, but the defenses are among the best in the country. Oregon ranks ninth in scoring defense (15.7 points a game) while Wisconsin ranks 10th (16.1 points).

Quick read: This game will be a slobber knocker. Both teams play a physical brand of football, especially on defense. Georgia has one of the best defenses in the country, allowing only 12.5 and 274.2 yards a game. Baylor allows more points and yards a game (19.3 and 358.9), but the Bears popped lots of teams in the mouth this season. After Baylor quarterback Charlie Brewer was removed from the Big 12 Championship Game with an apparent concussion, his availability for the Sugar Bowl is worth keeping an eye on.

The championship trophy is seen before a news conference for the NCAA college football playoff championship game between Alabama and Clemson Sunday, Jan. 6, 2019, in Santa Clara, Calif. (AP Photo/David J. Phillip)LSU head coach Ed Orgeron embraces quarterback Joe Burrow (9) after defeating Alabama 46-41 in an NCAA college football game, Saturday, Nov. 9, 2019, in Tuscaloosa, Ala. (AP Photo/John Bazemore)Ohio State wide receiver K.J. Hill (14) holds the trophy following the team's 34=21 win over Wisconsin in the Big Ten championship NCAA college football game, early Sunday, Dec. 8, 2019, in Indianapolis. (AP Photo/Michael Conroy)Oklahoma State head coach Mike Gundy argues for a cal in the third quarter during the Bedlam college football game between the Oklahoma State Cowboys (OSU) and Oklahoma Sooners (OU) at Boone Pickens Stadium in Stillwater, Okla., Saturday, Nov. 30, 2019. OU won 34-16. [Sarah Phipps/The Oklahoman]
Oklahoma's Jalen Hurts holds the trophy after the Big 12 Championship Game between the University of Oklahoma Sooners (OU) and the Baylor University Bears at AT&amp;T Stadium in Arlington, Texas, Saturday, Dec. 7, 2019. Oklahoma won 30-23. [Bryan Terry/The Oklahoman]

Jenni Carlson

Jenni Carlson, a sports columnist at The Oklahoman since 1999, came by her love of sports honestly. She grew up in a sports-loving family in Kansas. Her dad coached baseball and did color commentary on the radio for the high school football...
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Jeff Patterson

Jeff Patterson is the sports editor of The Oklahoman. A native of Lexington, Kentucky, he allegedly once told his father on a childhood trip passing through Oklahoma that he would one day live there. He doesn't recall this, but he fulfilled that...
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